Collaborating for Public Schools tag:typepad.com,2003:weblog-1714874 2010-04-26T06:27:43-07:00 Where Sandy Piderit advocates for Pleasanton students TypePad new Pleasanton superintendent to be appointed by May? tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00e553e5146288330133ecf68e31970b 2010-04-26T06:27:43-07:00 2010-04-26T06:27:43-07:00 The Pleasanton Unified School District expects to announce a new superintendent within a few weeks, and I am very much looking forward to when the board members reveal the new hire's name. As I wait for the upcoming announcement, I have also been reflecting on what the community might expect from a new superintendent. It is reasonable to expect someone who can bring a renewed sense of accountability, transparency, and innovativeness to PUSD: someone who can encourage employees to do more with less; someone who can listen to the community and collaborate with stakeholder groups; someone who can heal damaged relationships. The leadership profile originally posted at the beginning of the search seemed to ask for a great deal more than that -- perhaps even describing a candidate who could do everything except walk on water. Charismatic, outgoing, and assertive, but also humble and collaborative; outstanding at continuing to cut expenses and willing to "take on" the unions in a more adversarial way, but also able to support and encourage union members, high-performing teachers, principals, and staff through tough times. My hope is that the community will take time to get to know the new superintendent, through the summer and fall, before forming any snap judgements of the new "CEO" of Pleasanton's schools. A number of searches for other management staff, including the principal at Amador Valley High School, are getting under way soon. It is fortuitous that the new superintendent will be able to give input on selecting finalists for key positions. Sandy Piderit

The Pleasanton Unified School District expects to announce a new superintendent within a few weeks, and I am very much looking forward to when the board members reveal the new hire's name.

As I wait for the upcoming announcement, I have also been reflecting on what the community might expect from a new superintendent. It is reasonable to expect someone who can bring a renewed sense of accountability, transparency, and innovativeness to PUSD: someone who can encourage employees to do more with less; someone who can listen to the community and collaborate with stakeholder groups; someone who can heal damaged relationships.

The leadership profile originally posted at the beginning of the search seemed to ask for a great deal more than that -- perhaps even describing a candidate who could do everything except walk on water. Charismatic, outgoing, and assertive, but also humble and collaborative; outstanding at continuing to cut expenses and willing to "take on" the unions in a more adversarial way, but also able to support and encourage union members, high-performing teachers, principals, and staff through tough times.

My hope is that the community will take time to get to know the new superintendent, through the summer and fall, before forming any snap judgements of the new "CEO" of Pleasanton's schools.

A number of searches for other management staff, including the principal at Amador Valley High School, are getting under way soon. It is fortuitous that the new superintendent will be able to give input on selecting finalists for key positions.

 http://managementwisdom.typepad.com/my_weblog/2010/04/new-superintendent-soon.html sailing through organizational change tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00e553e5146288330120a5443b12970b 2009-09-03T09:11:50-07:00 2009-09-09T11:53:58-07:00 Consider the metaphor of leading an organizational change as sailing a yacht: Imagine that you want to sail a yacht to a new destination. You must read the wind well so that you can trim the sails to harness its energy. If the winds are at your back, then you can put up the spinnaker and make quick progress to your destination. However, if the winds are blowing against the direction in which you want to travel you will need to chart and oblique course, heading toward your destination without aiming for it directly. If you try to confront the headwinds squarely, your sails will luff, and your yacht's progress will stall. In the same way, if you want to steer an organization through a major change, you must navigate the relationships among your employees so that you can harness their energy in support of the change. If the key change agents have relationships of trust, respect, and obligation with most employees, then those relationships will help you to build momentum in support of the organizational change. However, if the opponents of your change benefit from higher quality relationships with most employees, you must steer the organizational change carefully. These are the first two paragraphs in my dissertation. (Piderit, 1999, Navigating Relationships with Coworkers: Understanding Employees' Attitudes Toward an Organizational Change, UMI #9929921) How do you think of leading organizational change? What metaphor do you find most provocative? Sandy Piderit <div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>Consider the metaphor of leading an organizational change as sailing a yacht:</p><blockquote><p>Imagine that you want to sail a yacht to a new destination. You must read the wind well so that you can trim the sails to harness its energy. If the winds are at your back, then you can put up the spinnaker and make quick progress to your destination.&nbsp; </p> <p><a href="http://managementwisdom.typepad.com/.a/6a00e553e5146288330120a544a513970b-pi" style="display: inline;"><img alt="MarkRounding_5" class="at-xid-6a00e553e5146288330120a544a513970b image-full " src="http://managementwisdom.typepad.com/.a/6a00e553e5146288330120a544a513970b-800wi" title="MarkRounding_5" border="0" /></a> However, if the winds are blowing against the direction in which you want to travel you will need to chart and oblique course, heading toward your destination without aiming for it directly. If you try to confront the headwinds squarely, your sails will luff, and your yacht's progress will stall.</p> <p>In the same way, if you want to steer an organization through a major change, you must navigate the relationships among your employees so that you can harness their energy in support of the change. If the key change agents have relationships of trust, respect, and obligation with most employees, then those relationships will help you to build momentum in support of the organizational change. However, if the opponents of your change benefit from higher quality relationships with most employees, you must steer the organizational change carefully.</p> </blockquote> <p>These are the first two paragraphs in my dissertation. (Piderit, 1999, Navigating Relationships with Coworkers: Understanding Employees' Attitudes Toward an Organizational Change, <a href="http://disexpress.umi.com/dxweb">UMI #9929921</a>)</p> <p>How do you think of leading organizational change? What metaphor do you find most provocative?</p> <p></p><pre class="html"><br></pre> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://tweetmeme.com/i/scripts/button.js"></script> </div> <img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/managementwisdom/~4/f1VxNuwOurE" height="1" width="1"/> http://managementwisdom.typepad.com/my_weblog/2009/09/sailing-through-organizational-change.html